The Ant and the Aardvark (1969 Short)
The Ant and the Aardvark is the first animated short from the series of the same name. It is also one of the last cartoons to be directed by Friz Freleng. Synopsis The Ant spots a picnic and tries to get its food, unaware that the picnic is that of the Aardvarks. Plot Having spotted a picnic, Charlie Ant goes there to replenish his food supplies. While examining the contents of the picnic basket, he is bothered by the Aardvark, who declares that he wants to eat the ant. The ant snaps Aardvark's nose under the basket lid. While Charlie is carrying a pie to his ant hill, the Aardvark attempts to vacuum the ant using his snout, only for the pie to strike his forehead. He admits that he recognized the pie as the contents were that of coconut, before charging to Charlie's ant hill, only to hit an apple tree and have a falling apple hit his head. The Blue Aardvark continues his attempts to eat Charlie by attacking the ant hill and trying to vacuum up the ant, still using his snout. Instead of Charlie, he inhales tabasco sauce, causing him to run to the nearest pond, which only slows down his advance. While the Ant is carrying grapes back home, the Aardvark disguises his snout as the anthill. The camouflage works perfectly, though this is not without a pitfall when Charlie squeezes a watermelon down the Aardvark's snout. While chasing Charlie, the Aardvark slips on a banana peel and loses sight of the ant. The aardvark remains restless, and after playing a cavalry signal with his snout, attacks the anthill, digging through the sand. While digging, he encounters a gas pipe and blows himself up by mistake. Another digging attempt leads the Aardvark to an underground train station, and after he turns on the light, is struck by an oncoming train. Another attempt in dealing with Charlie is done by smoking a cigar. The aardvark gets poisoned by the tobacco he is trying to exhale at the anthill and falls down behind a nearby tree. When asked by Charlie, if there is anything the ant can do for the aardvark, the latter asks Charlie to wish him being dead. After all the previous attempts going awry, the aardvark decides to stomp the ants with his feet. Charlie warns the aardvark to watch his steps on a minefield, but it is too late. Characters *The Ant *The Aardvark Credits Directed by *Friz Freleng Written by *John W. Dunn Produced by *David H. DePatie *Friz Freleng Music by *Doug Goodwin Animation by *Manny Perez *Warren Batchelder *Manny Gould *Don Williams Backgrounds by *Tom O'Loughlin Voices by *John Byner Trivia *When MGM released the complete series on DVD in 2007, the theatrical versions were utilized for the most part. However, three television prints made their way onto the DVD set, with this being one of them. Videos Category:The Ant and the Aardvark cartoons Category:1969 shorts Category:1969